


How the Grinch Found Home

by charons_boat



Category: Stray Kids (Band), The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Alternate Universe - Who-Land, Bullying, Christmas, Found Family, M/M, Past Child Neglect, Some Fluff, Some angst, Strangers to Lovers, Tagged For Violence Just In Case, deerwho!kevin, he doesn't steal christmas, he's a deer hybrid, homeless people, idk how that happened, incessant rhyming, kevin is the grinch, past bullying, public outcast, the grinch who stole christmas au, traumatic past, whodeer!kevin, whoville collectively hate kevin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28132170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charons_boat/pseuds/charons_boat
Summary: Most everyone in Whoville hates the Grinch, but one year Hyunjin decides to give it a try: "after all," he thinks, "why anyone, if not I?"
Relationships: Moon Hyungseo | Kevin/Hwang Hyunjin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15
Collections: WIP OLYMPICS: WINTER 2020/21





	How the Grinch Found Home

**Author's Note:**

> this is kinda short but its also kinda cute. 
> 
> just in case, mentions for past bullying, child neglect, child abandonment, etc.

For longer than long and time out of time, there has lived on the mountain a man who never cries. He never comes down and never is seen, but everyone knows what his name must mean. _The Grinch_ , they all say, _hates all of whokind. His hatred is complete and can not decline_. No one quite knows why the Grinch lives up there, all alone with the wind and the snow in his hair. _It must be freezing_ , one might idly think, but then follow it immediately with, _at least it's not me sneezing._ For the Grinch, understand, hates not only whokind but Christmas as well, and as you might think, the whos down in Whoville don't take that too well. It might be the only thing they dislike, you see: others hatred of Christmas, to them, is blasphemy.

So the Grinch is up there, alone in the snow, so long gone that they no longer know: what was his name, before he took on the Grinch? What was he like, before he became such a--

* * *

  
"Gosh is it cold," shivers a blond in the wind, "had I put on more, I'd be warm in this situation." It is true, you see, that he's quite underdressed, and he shakes like a tree with a face clearly stressed. "Why am I here," he moans and laments, and then, for a moment, he really forgets. But then he smiles wide, a pretty grin on his face, and he shouts out with glee, "The Grinch lives up here, and he's still on the fence! I'm here to show him what Christmas really means, and if that doesn't work, I'll fill him with glee!"

Farther above, on a snow-covered ledge, a figure stands straight, silent and quiet in the snow's gentle wake. He's really quite pretty, though the whos have forgot; his early life down in Whoville, it all was for naught. They think, quite firmly, that since he hates Christmas he must also look vile, must be vindictive and mean with a darkly crooked smile. But really, he's gorgeous, with his raven-dark hair and his chocolate-brown eyes, and seeing him suddenly is like getting hit by an acorn that dropped from the sky. There's just one thing that drives them all off: his tendency to glare, stare, scoff. But more than that, it's the way that he speaks. He opens his mouth and it's-- "What an idiot. He should've worn more. It's too cold up here for a t-shirt and shorts." And really, who'd like someone who speaks so off-kilter, so slightly tilted sideways so that nothing lines up? Who'd like a strange who, who drinks sauce from a cup?

The blond looks up, eyes filled with glee, and he smiles so widely that he can no longer see. The Grinch is somewhat stunned, because really, it's just been far too long. He's had no smiles and he's had no grins, no goodwill towards earth and no peace for men. (And there, you see, he's messed up again.) But the blond is smiling with absolute abandon, the joy on his face like a shot from a cannon. The Grinch's heart, trips, stumbles, and stutters, and he tries to close it off with a flimsy metal shutter. He's never been good at cutting himself off, especially not in the face of one who won't scoff. He knows, somehow, that the blond won't curse him, condemn him, or blame him. He's here for something else, he said it himself, so the Grinch jumps down from his snowy, lofty shelf.

"I know what Christmas is about. Presents and greed and self-absorbed nonsense. I get all your gifts in the trash." The blond startles backwards, nearly falls down the hill, but the Grinch grabs his collar and hauls him towards the mountain, away from the danger of the quite deadly fall. (The Grinch himself knows what it's like to take that tumble, and had only survived because, well... he's the Grinch, plain and simple, and his rules aren't the same. He'd like to see you try to play his version of the game.)

The blond, resolute, shakes his head swiftly, and before the Grinch can interrupt, he starts talking quickly. "I'm Hwang Hyunjin, you see Mr. Grinch, and I'm here to tell you about this holiday in a few seconds, just a pinch." The Grinch winces slightly when the youth rhymes his words, glad that he left that way of speech in the past with the urns. "I've never gotten a present and I'll tell you why: I've on the streets since I was barely five. My family left me, unwanted, in an alley back home, but I was found by some others who have none of their own. They took me in, they taught me to live, and every Christmas we spend is one shared--"

"With chagrin?" The Grinch smiles at his joke, but the boy carries on, uncaring of the Grinch's rare rhyme which he'd spawned.

"No, Mr. Grinch, our Christmasses are filled with love! We spend them together, no matter the weather! We huddle round the fire and tell stories of our days, no matter how outrageous or silly or crazed. They taught me to live and they taught me to speak, and they taught me the meaning of your life on the peak!" And here the Grinch freezes, struck speechless for once. It's been long since he was reminded of his life before, of the times when he was beaten and bullied. He no longer thinks of those painful days, when he was ridiculed for being different, for hating their ways. It was never his fault that was born with furry ears, perched atop his head like those of a deer. It had been the fault of others that he was driven away, when they called him Rudolph and strapped him to a sleigh. He'd cried and he'd screamed and he'd begged to be helped, but that night in Whoville there was no one else. It seemed that way, at least, until he saw through a shutter--saw the whoboys and whogirls huddled by the window, watching with big eyes as their parents smirked smugly, supremely pleased, and Kevin was left to suffer in the biting cold wind.

_"Your nose is all red," shouted a boy with delight. "It's so shiny that we could use it as a light! Carry on Rudolph, pull our sleigh! If you don't, we'll keep you all day!" And they'd taken his sweater, so warm and hand-knitted, and the scarf had been shredded along with his mittens. His grandmother had made them, all his warm clothes, but she was gone now, and his parents were hoes. They'd broken up some weeks ago, and hadn't seen him since. It was like he was nothing, less than the wind. So Kevin had been paraded that night through the town. He'd been humiliated and angered and (when he left) nothing more was found. He'd packed up his clothes and his toys and his bed, and he'd left for the mountain, filled not with excitement, but with anger instead._

"I'm sorry, Mr. Grinch, for the things that they did. I would've helped you, but I was living on the streets and had no clue of the world. They didn't walk you past; I heard nothing of the quarrel. But I'm here, Mr. Grinch, to bring you back down. Come to Christmas with me, come back to the town. Join me and my family, we'll have you for sure! We'll give the most that we can afford!"

"I thought you said it wasn't about money or presents."

"It's not. We might not have space and we might not have food, but we have all the love we could possibly give to you. We've talked and we've fought and finally, they agree: the Grinch might not be so bad after all! We'd like you to stay with us, maybe til fall. If by then, you decide that you don't like our type, we'll let you go back and continue your life. But maybe, if you join, us, you'll find after all, that someone has a type of Christmas for which you'd fall." And Kevin considers, chews his lips and wonders, weighs one option against the other and finally, he decides.

"I'll join you," he murmurs, "on a single condition. Please call me my name."

"What is it?"

"Kevin."

That winter, for them, seems less brutal. Kevin likes the way the homeless group thinks, their dislike of who tradition and distaste for Christmas things. They _do_ spend their Christmasses together and warm, no money spent on toys or boys or girls. They only buy clothes, the things that they need, they buy wood and food with what little they have, and it breaks Kevin's heart to see them so bad. Within a few weeks, he's disappeared once more; this time, however, to the joy of Hyunjin's aching heart, Kevin returns. He leads the homeless group up the mountain with a smile, something that hasn't been on his face for a while. The rumors are false, they find in surprise; his head is on right, and his heart is to size. When they enter his home, the cave in the mountain, they find not dampness, but light and warmth, and Kevin smiling with abandon.

"We can live here," he says with a smile, sweeping his arms to show them the lay. "It's warmer and brighter, and the wind never blows and the snow never falls. I've cleaned and built, and now there are rooms. You can have privacy if you want, or you can pile up together in front of the TV. I found it outside, and I do hope it works, but if it doesn't, then... I'll draw you a show, and you can watch it to sleep instead of being in the snow." No one gapes at his rhyme, not any more. It happens only so often as the crow cries "Evermore." That night, together, they pile into the wide open space, buried in piles of blankets with eyes closed and hearts opened, the feeling of love almost slightly glazed. It's beautiful and warm and they're happy to stay, close with their friends and each other through the days.

No one in Whoville misses the group, doesn't notice they're missing, doesn't see they've flown the coop. Kevin is happy and Hyunjin is warm, and they smile and love, and they live their life kindly--softly--adored.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on twt (for torturing them) @sunwooseok_
> 
> and yes, it was going to say "What was he like, before he became such a bitch?" but i cut it off cause i doubt a who would cuss and i thought it was funnier that way


End file.
